Having raised 6 baby squirrels over my lifetime, I can promise you that there is no animal smarter, cuter or more precious than a squirrel. They are such playful little fellas all the time. When raised from tiny babies, they become as attached to their human mamas as any other baby animal raised by one of us. They are absolute clowns and when you see them doing things in the wild, you're only seeing a tiny bit of what they're like as family pets.

Eventually, we sent every one we raised back to the wild, but it took some time. They really didn't want to go.

When I'm watching any kind of wildlife, I can almost feel what it'd be like to take care of them from the time they are just tiny babies, and that feeling adds so much to the way I see them struggling against progress and the next big building complex I see going up on what was their land...their homes.

It's nice to see anyone who is helping to replace what the wildlife has lost. Just feeding and supplying fresh clean water for them is all that is keeping so many from being lost. There are fewer and fewer places for them to

go. They are not the intruders, we are.

Your photos are wonderful, and we truly enjoyed seeing them. Thank you so much.

Thank you everyone. We take care of all of the animals, you can see more of my photos at pbase.com/davidarthur where I have many galleries of different animals. We feed them all, from the birds to the wild cats to the foxes to the raccoons, hawks, vultures, coyotes, etc. Deer, bear, moose and more will hopefully be coming to feed this feed.

These are some of the wild critters that frequent our yard. They really enjoy having our leftovers put out for them. They used to fight each other and the skunks would spray, but eventually they all became friends.

If I do not put food out, they will politely knock on the glass door. Then I try to scrounge up some goodies for them. I do withhold the food from time to time so they do not become dependent on it.

I go through a 20 pound bag of dog kibble a week. The raccoons and ravens dip the kibbles before eating them.

Wildlife: Backyard Visitors

Wildlife: Backyard Visitors

Thank you for making me smile. I feed wild birds in my backyard and one morning one of my dogs somehow managed to catch a Bluejay baby. Only to be chased by a bunch of full grown Bluejays back into the house. I was very upset that one of my dogs would hurt another animal / bird and went outside to bury it. Well to my shock, the baby was still alive and wandering all over the yard. I kept shooing it to the back fence so he could first be out of our yard and second have some sort of cover among the brush. Well, as I'm scooting this baby bird across my backyard I kept telling the other Bluejays that I was trying to help it and begged them not to attack me. And not one Bluejay attacked me, squawked or anything else.

Once I knew the baby was safe I turned around and talked loud enough for the birds so they knew the baby was safe and I thanked them, over and over again for not attacking me. I have a opossum that eats cat food on my front porch and lays within a foot of our cat. I've been an animal lover my entire life and wish I had a time for each stray dog that would follow me home. I prefer my dogs to most people, they love me for me, are great companionsand as I'm still recovering from something bad and just having them near me all the time keeps me calm and stress free.

I am well looked after, we have 3 dogs, 2 cats and a neighbors dog who wants to live with us. Hutch is the most beautiful dog that I have ever seen and sadly he is tied out in their backyard on huge thick chain. His Owner is in prison and he's not getting a lot of one on one attention. He's had no training at all and gets so happy to see anyone that he jumps up. I have permission to go there and pet him. So every afternoon I walk over their with a heavy duty shedding brush, a spray bottle of water and 2 huge doggy biscuits. I love on him and play ball.

He can see me when I'm by my front door from where he's tied out in his yard and every time he sees me, he starts wagging his bushy tail and yodels at me. I wish I could find a dog family that would adopt him. He has such a gentle side and with consistent training, he make someone a very loving pet. He has no manners and from what I've seen he isn't very obedient with people.

I walk over there everyday with 2 huge dog cookies and brush out his thick coat, He's not mean, he just gets super excited when and if anyone comes to visit him. I'm in the process of teaching him to walk on a leash with a Gentle Leader. Hutch looks to be some sort of Husky mix and he's solid white.

I can't save all the dogs in the world but with some luck I think I could talk his owner to letting me find someone to take him. Anyway, I'm sorry about getting sidetracked, I loved your pictures of your adopted furry children, good for you and God Bless you for being the caring and loving person that you are. (11/23/2010)